


New Traditions

by Nautilusopus



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Coming of Age, Ear Piercings, Gen, Light Angst, Military, Pre-Nibelheim Incident, Sort Of Fluff, betaless, can't when you're 2 KOOL 4 SKOOL, crisis core and dirge are still non-canon and can continue eating a dick, i'm not done yelling about how much cloud loves his friends, mentions of child soldiers, this is my apology for melting the flesh off a dude's bones, two assholes that should just fucking hug each other already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 02:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14095404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nautilusopus/pseuds/Nautilusopus
Summary: A lot of people get their ears pierced in the city. It's a trend.A lot of people get their ears pierced in other places, too, but there it means something different.





	New Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got around to typing this thing up! This was my entry for the Iron Fic contest at a convention, edited and expanded slightly now that I'm no longer working under a one hour time crunch with a pen and paper. This thing won me a free DVD that I'll probably never watch. 
> 
> I have a lot of ideas about life in Nibelheim and even more about Cloud and Zack's relationship (the non-"we had one 49-second cutscene together about both of us being from the country and now we're best friends and I'd die for you I guess" half-assed version).
> 
> (I have an update coming on the other one I swear. Soon.)

"I'm kinda surprised you bothered."

Zack blinked in surprise and turned to acknowledge Cloud, who'd been standing behind him in the grubby bathroom of the barracks, waiting for his turn at the sink. He didn't want to shoo Zack away -- the only reason he was even here was for Cloud's benefit. Members of Soldier had their own much nicer (much cleaner) bathrooms to use, but Cloud was exhausted and filthy and still had ash in his teeth leftover from the riot he'd been sent out to quell in the Sector 3 slums. All he wanted to do was wash his face and pass out. 

"Bothered with what?" asked Zack, clearly mentally bracing himself for another "you're my commanding officer are you sure the first name thing is okay" talk. Cloud pressed ahead. Zack was hard to shut up once he got started. 

"Your ears," said Cloud, as though this were obvious. When met with further blank staring, he tapped his own ears for reference. "You got them pierced."

"What -- oh! Yeah, chicks in Midgar are into it," said Zack offhandedly. Cloud frowned. 

"What, is that bad?" he added. "All it takes is one stray bullet, Spike. You gotta play the field while you're young."

"I know that," snapped Cloud, who, at the age of fifteen, hadn't gotten anywhere near first base yet. Not that Zack hadn't been actively trying to remedy that -- there was always some "friend" he seemed to know that would be "really into" him, and every time they left for one reason or another. Sometimes he was just too short. Sometimes he couldn't think of anything to say, or when he did say something she'd decide it was rude for whatever dumb reason. Usually, they were more interested in Zack than him. Whatever the reason, it was just one more hallmark in his life that he should have passed by now but hadn't. Among others. Such as...

"It's nothing," said Cloud. "Forget I said anything."

Zack groaned loudly. "Are you still fucking doing this Spike?"

"I'm not 'doing' any --"

"You're gonna sit and sulk for a week until one day you explode at whatever private is closest, and I'm gonna have to assign you to lab cleaning duty again so we don't _both_ get court martialled." Zack mercifully leaned out of the way, allowing Cloud to begin splashing his own face with water. "Just make this easier on both of us, yeah?"

"It's not that big a deal. I said it wasn't." Cloud wiped off his face on his shirt and shuffled out of the bathroom to begin unknotting his sheets. A prank pulled frequently on whoever was on the bottom of the pecking order in the barracks (which in this case was him), and officially against the rules, but nothing any of the higher-ups cared enough to do anything about. Apart from Zack, anyway, but he was just one guy, and had better things to be doing than constantly following Cloud around making sure he didn't get jumped. He could handle it himself. 

"Look," said Cloud, "where I'm from -- y'know, back in Bumfuck, Nibel or whatever, it's just... getting your ears pierced is kind of a big deal. And I didn't really think that was a thing in the city, or even in Gongaga. So... there. That's it." Cloud gave up on untangling his sheets and flopped back down on his cot in defeat. "That's it, I swear."

"How's it a big deal?" asked Zack, to Cloud's dismay. Gods, he'd never stop now. He shouldn't have said anything. Idiot. 

"Means you're an adult," muttered Cloud disinterestedly, hoping Zack would feel the same way. "When you turn eleven, you get your ears pierced."

There was a pause, where Cloud had just enough time to dread the inevitable question, before -- 

"So what about you?" asked Zack. "You don't --"

"I never got it done, no," interjected Cloud. "If you're a guy, your pa's supposed to do it, and my pa died ages ago." He was pretty sure, anyway. Ma never liked to discuss Father much. 

"What about your mom?"

"No," said Cloud, more sharply than he meant to. He sheepishly added, "I didn't wanna get made fun of."

Zack sniggered loudly, not improving Cloud's mood any. "Come on, don't tell me you actually care about --"

"Well, maybe I _do,_ and maybe it _does_ matter, alright?" he shot. "Just... just drop it, okay?" he muttered, his face red with shame. 

Ma had offered, of course. She didn't know where his great uncle was, and his grandpa had been eaten by a dragon before he was born, so there hadn't really been any other option. He'd turned her down in a fight that had lasted fifteen minutes and made him miserable for days afterwards. None of the other guys had their ears done by their mothers. The last thing he'd needed was another reason for them to go after them. Ma seemed different after that. Sadder. He should've still been mad she'd even offered, but all thinking about it did was make an ugly hurt twist up in his gut every time he tried.

Zack studied his face carefully, the mako glow in his eyes giving his gaze the eerie quality of making it appear as though Cloud were being looked through, then shrugged. "Alright. Just don't go biting anyone's head off. That's a direct order."

"Fine," said Cloud, before adding a very dry, "sir," and halfheartedly dropping his wadded up sheets on top of himself, too drained to bother with untangling them anymore. 

Putting down riots was the worst. Shooting dissidents was the worst. Zack was the worst. His stupid ma was the worst. Nibelheim was the worst. The 837th division was the worst. All of this was the worst. 

He didn't speak to Zack for another week after that. Maybe not entirely intentionally -- his whole division was called in to act as security and keep the slum dwellers out of some fancy party on the upper plate, meaning he was stuck outside while Zack, as Second Lieutenant and Soldier First Class, was comfortably indoors glad-handing Shinra board members for three days. Still, their exchanged had bothered him. He knew it wasn't fair to be mad at Zack. He hadn't known. And it wasn't his fault that he was smarter, and stronger, and taller, and faster, and better than Cloud in every conceivable way. Or that he was in Soldier, or that he had friends, or that he'd probably had sex with every single person he'd tried to hook Cloud up with himself. Or that he probably knew Cloud was a charity case and was just doing a lot of this to be nice. Cloud couldn't risk driving him off. He was lucky Zack gave him the time of day in the first place. It was more than anyone else had ever done. 

It figured that Zack just went and pierced his own ears. Zack didn't have to worry about anyone else's approval. 

So when Zack finally did visit the barracks again, this time with a sack of ice and a small bag, it had been a welcome opportunity to try and move past their conversation last week. 

However, this apparently wasn't something Zack was keen on doing. 

"Guess what I brought!" said Zack, causing Cloud to roll his eyes. 

"Is it champagne?" said Cloud. "Because if anyone else brings booze in here again, the General's gonna..." He trailed off in confusion as Zack removed a set of sewing needles from the bag instead. "...what?"

"You said it was a big deal, right?' said Zack. "I mean... I totally get if you don't want me doing this, I know I'm not exactly 'dad' material or whatever. Though you're definitely short enough to be -- I --" he shook his head, abandoning whatever joke he was trying to set up. "Look, I just figured, y'know, since it mattered to you and all, that -- well, I get that it's kinda presumptuous on my part, and..."

"...I --" Cloud slowly reached to take the set of needles from Zack, cutting him off. "I -- yeah, that..." He swallowed and looked up at Zack. "I'd be honoured," he said, his voice strained.

"Great!" said Zack, clearly relieved. "I should warn you, this is gonna hurt. But that's what the ice is for, I guess."

A moment later, they were huddled around the bathroom sink again, Cloud holding an ice cube to his ear as Zack cleaned a needle, a restorative materia propped up next to the soap just in case. This was really happening. He'd never even dreamed...

Maybe Zack wasn't related to him, exactly. But there was still something about this that felt right and made his chest swell painful with pride. Maybe Zack didn't even appreciate fully what he was doing. 

Maybe he did. Cloud wanted to believe he did. 

"Ready?" asked Zack. Cloud swallowed and nodded. 

A strangled yelp escaped him as the first needle jabbed through his earlobe. He gritted his teeth and reached up to remove it, but Zack shook his head. 

"Don't want you all lopsided," he said. "Hold still..." Cloud nodded, his teeth gritted as he struggled not to make another sound. Not now, not when someone like Zack considered him --

He was able to keep quiet for the second needle. Zack quickly replaced them both with a pair of studs he must have picked up from the slums (he'd bought him a gift. Zack had gotten him a gift. He'd gotten these for him. Had Zack ever gotten him a present before? Zack had bought him a gift) and handed him a damp towel to wipe off the blood before running a weak healing spell through him, sealing the skin around the metal posts. "All done! That's a good look for you, Spike. Real classy. Upper plate kinda deal. I like it."

Cloud stared at himself in the mirror, the bits of metal set into his ears dully glinting in the fluorescent glow of the bathroom light. Proper earrings. Silver, it looked like, or maybe really good pewter, the head polished to a shine. He'd spent money on this. Had he done research, too? For him?

He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He wasn't really sure if they were from the recent pain of having a needle shoved through his ears. 

"Whoa! You okay there, Spike?" Zack stared at him in alarm. "You need more ice? You could've said something if you weren't ready."

"No," said Cloud firmly. "No. I'm ready."


End file.
